Apple Stockholders Hit $850 Billion Jackpot

Over the past ten years, Apple (AAPL) stock has delivered a massive $847 billion back to its investors in tangible cash in the form of dividends and buybacks. In fact, AAPL stock has provided the highest returns to shareholders of any company in history.

Continuing this trend in 2025, Apple raised its quarterly dividend to $0.26 per share, reflecting a 4% raise. Apple’s board has also authorized a new program to repurchase up to $100 billion of common stock.

Let’s examine some statistics and see how this payout ability compares to the market’s largest return-of-capital entities.

Why should you be concerned? Because dividends and share buybacks represent direct, tangible capital returns to shareholders. They also reflect management’s confidence in the company’s financial stability and its capacity to generate sustainable cash flows. Moreover, there are other stocks exhibiting similar traits. Here is a list of the top 10 firms ranked by total capital returned to shareholders through dividends and stock buybacks.

Investing in a single stock can be risky, but there’s significant value in the broader diversified approach we adopt with Trefis High Quality Portfolio. We extend beyond just equities. What about a portfolio comprising 10% commodities, 10% gold, and 2% crypto alongside equities and bonds – is it likely to yield greater returns in the next 1-3 years and offer better protection if the markets fall by 20%? We have analyzed the figures.

Top 10 Stocks By Total Shareholder Return

For the complete ranking, visit Buybacks & Dividends Ranking

What catches your attention here? The total capital returned to shareholders as a percentage of the current market cap seems inversely correlated to growth potential for reinvestments. Stocks like Meta (META) and Microsoft (MSFT) are expanding at a much quicker rate, in a more predictable manner, compared to the others, yet they have returned a significantly smaller portion of their market cap to shareholders.

That represents the downside to high capital returns. Yes, they are appealing, but you must ponder: Am I compromising growth and robust fundamentals? With that consideration, let’s review some data for AAPL. (refer to Buy or Sell Apple Stock for more information)

Apple Basics

• Revenue Growth: 6.0% LTM and 1.8% last 3-year average.
• Cash Generation: Nearly 23.5% free cash flow margin and 31.9% operating margin LTM.
• Recent Revenue Shocks: The minimum annual revenue growth in the last 3 years for AAPL was -0.9%.
• Valuation: Apple stock trades at a P/E multiple of 39.4
• Opportunity vs S&P: Compared to S&P, you get higher valuation, higher LTM revenue growth, and better margins

That provides a good summary, but assessing a stock from an investment standpoint requires much more. This is precisely what Trefis High Quality Portfolio accomplishes. It aims to minimize stock-specific risks while providing potential upside.

AAPL Historical Risk

Nevertheless, Apple is not insulated from significant declines. It fell roughly 81% during the Dot-Com bubble and suffered a 61% drop in the Global Financial Crisis. The 2018 correction and the Covid sell-off also experienced reductions of around 31-39%. Even the recent inflation shock caused it to decline by approximately 31%. Strong firms can endure storms more effectively, yet sharp market downturns can still be severe.

However, the risk is not confined to major market downturns. Stocks can decrease even in favorable market conditions – consider events such as earnings reports, business updates, and changes in outlook. Check AAPL Dip Buyer Analyses to understand how the stock has bounced back from sharp declines in the past.

The Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio, consisting of 30 stocks, has a history of consistently outperforming its benchmark that includes all three – the S&P 500, S&P mid-cap, and Russell 2000 indices. What accounts for that? As a collective, HQ Portfolio stocks have provided superior returns with reduced risk compared to the benchmark index; a smoother ride, as seen in HQ Portfolio performance metrics.